Just How Blind I've Been
by NexusTehULF0o
Summary: The truth was, her naiveté forced the real him into the light - he just hadn't decided yet whether that was a good thing or not. Oneshot. Eugene/Rapunzel.


**Title: Just How Blind I've Been**

**Author: NexustehULF0o**

**Description: ****The truth was, her naiveté forced the real him into the light - he just hadn't decided yet whether that was a good thing or not.**

**Rating: K +. For the punching and the threatening.**

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**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TANGLED. That is all.**

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**Nexus: Wow, I am obsessed. I need to get over this movie. But I don't want to. :3 So here's another Tangled fic! :D I hope you enjoy! **

**Oh, and P.S. – here's to ~sumshine904 for being so supportive of my fluff and to ~LoverofLattes' Tangled story "Firsts", which got me into this mess. Thanks! :D**

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Flynn Rider was staring deeply.

Not that's he'd wanted to – after letting loose with the villagers like he had a couple of minutes ago, he'd needed a moment to catch his breath and her great green eyes had just been in his line of vision while doing so.

Those eyes. Those beautiful emerald eyes of hers that seemed to be catching his attention more and more lately. Last night, she had been staring at him for a good twenty minutes after he'd come back from collecting firewood. Although her unmoving gaze had put him off slightly, he had had more than one chance for a full appreciation for her beautiful...

He was snapped back to reality by the sound of the clapping and cheering dying down. And here he was, still standing inches from Rapunzel, breathing heavily and staring deeply into her eyes. Oh, and he was grinning like an idiot, too. Wonderful.

He shook his head vigorously before he abruptly backed away, smirking internally when he realized she'd done the same thing simultaneously. Glancing over, he'd caught the dark, scribbled blush across her nose before she hid it. Eugene chuckled nervously to himself before turning on his heel to go plop down by the fountain while she turned the other way to browse the nearby vendors.

The horse had been watching (of course, just what he needed) and proceeded to bat his eyes lovingly at him, whinnying a lovesick sigh. Eugene stopped that in its tracks with a snappy "Oh, shut up!" and a shove of the horse's face away from his vision.

The thief heaved a heavy sigh of his own and rested his chin against his open palm, elbow rested on his leg.

It was interesting how Blondie managed to find her way into his thoughts as of late. At first, it was all about the crown, and how he was doing this for the crown, and how she would only be a temporary thing that was a small price to pay for Flynn Rider's crown. Let's face it - Flynn Rider could handle anything as long as he was benefited in the long run.

He sighed again, slightly shaking his head.

But then, he reminded himself that he wasn't Flynn Rider anymore. He was Eugene Fitzherbert, now that someone knew it. _Stupid almost death_, he thought, _getting me to spill my secrets to some girl I barely even know…_

But that was just it, really. Although they had known each other about a day and a half, Eugene was more open with Rapunzel than with any other person he'd known in his entire life. The truth was, her naiveté forced the real him into the light - he just hadn't decided yet whether that was a good thing or not.

It was then that he realized that the Blondie in question was not currently in his sight. With all the people dispersing from the random dance festival that Rapunzel had spurred and Maximus distracting him with goo-goo faces, she'd been lost among the crowd.

He stood, frantically glancing back and forth, his eyes filtering through the massive crowd of people. One would think that with as much hair as she had, she would be an easy find…

But it was a small flash of green that he noticed first. The little lizard thing that Blondie had perched on her shoulder – it was staring at him. With wide eyes, the lizard glanced toward Rapunzel (obvious by the giant braid cascading from her head, flowers of all colors weaved into it) and then pointed behind him to a large, bald man with a mustache who speaking with her. The man's body language was clear – he did NOT Rapunzel's best interests at heart. In fact, he'd be pressed to say that the vendor didn't have Rapunzel's _interests _anywhere, except maybe entering through one ear and out the other.

Eugene could feel an angry growl rise in his throat as the man leaned casually against his nearby table, smiling suggestively and nodding after Rapunzel had excitedly told him something. He ground his teeth and put a foot forward, looking to rescue the girl from her own innocence.

_Wait a second. _He thought, stopping his foot in mid-step. _Easy, Rider. Keep it cool. Just go over there, fetch the girl, and leave. That's it. Conversation over. She'll be all yours again. _

Not even realizing what he thought, he'd relaxed into his first step, walking casually over to Rapunzel and the vendor.

"Ah, there you are." He smiled for her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Rapunzel looked up at him, holding a golden necklace in her hand. She held it out for him to see.

"Oh, Eugene! Look at this beautiful –"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's nice, Blondie." He turned to the vendor, glaring daggers in his direction. "We should go now."

He turned Rapunzel around and led her away from the table, a victorious smile lingering upon his lips.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching behind him in a slow jog.

"Hey, girl! You –"

He saw a hand place itself on Rapunzel's right shoulder.

Without a word or a thought occurring within him, Eugene swirled around and landed a punch right in the vendor's face, knocking him flat on the ground.

Rapunzel swirled around, gasping while clasping her mouth and backing up a few paces.

"Eugene!" she cried, watching in mild horror as he curled his fingers around the vendor's collar and loomed over him, his eyes sharp blades that glared menacingly at the shop vendor.

"Listen." He pulled hard on the shirt, forcing the already frightened man to cringe as he was brought nearly inches from his face. "If you EVER so much as THINK ABOUT HER ever again, I will kill you so fast that you won't have time to even think about wetting your pants."

The man gulped hard, which caused Eugene to shake his head slightly, as if snapping out of a trance.

What in the world was he _doing_? The dashing, ever-casual Flynn Rider – angry? What could he have been thinking, drawing attention to himself in public like that?

He let go of the man's collar, dropping him to the floor abruptly before standing and quickly accompanying Rapunzel away from the scene without another word.

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"Don't worry, I bought them." Eugene laughed as he, Rapunzel, and the frog thing pulled away from the dock, leaving a certain white horse stranded on the mainland. The horse looked at the thief as if lifting a questioning eyebrow, then leaned over the overflowing bag of apples. Eugene waited for the first juicy crunch before chiming in with an additional "Most of them."

Rapunzel watched him silently as he rowed the boat further out onto the water, the sun growing dimmer in the sky.

"Fl – er, sorry –" she pushed one of her many long golden locks behind her ear, smiling bashfully. "…Eugene…?"

He looked up, infinitely shimmering green eyes interlocking with his hazel-brown ones.

"You…punched that man, back in the town square…" she muttered, breaking eye contact to fold her hands back in her lap and stare at them intently. She then nervously looked back up at him. "Why did you do that…?"

Eugene heaved a sigh, stopping rowing for a moment before casting his eyes out over the water. How was he supposed to explain libido to a girl that had never been outside prior to a few days before? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rapunzel watching him patiently, her expression unchanging as she awaited his answer.

"Well, Blondie…guys…" he started, glancing at her. "Some guys…well, they don't always wanna _help _you. Y'know…?" He trailed off, flashing a half-grimace. Rapunzel's expression faded into that of confusion – she cocked her head slightly to the left, hair falling cutely into her face once more.

"Err…no, you don't." He ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair. "Uh, well, that vendor he was, um, trying to…"

She slowly opened her folded hands, showing him a shining gold chain adorned with a small sun-shaped pendant.

"You've been so nice to me lately that I…well, I wanted say thank you…" she blushed darkly, looking down to hide her face. "The man at the table, he was asking me about the necklace and who it was for, and I…well, I wanted to get you a gift. But you came and took me away before I had the chance to ask him more about it…"

It all hit Eugene like a ton of rocks falling right on to his head.

He remembered the vendor's then-lecherous, now-genuine smiling. Blondie's natural…well, sunny disposition would make anyone want to be nice to her, and so as she explained about how she wanted to purchase something for _him _ - how nice it felt that she was thinking fondly of _him_ – the vendor had smiled and leaned against the table in interest, noticing her energy and liveliness. He wasn't ogling her in any way at all – in many ways, it was easy to see that Rapunzel had been locked away in a tower her whole life, and through her innocence, she appealed to the better nature of people as a whole.

Eugene suddenly realized that Rapunzel recently had begun to appeal to _his _better nature as well, but nothing he'd ever admit to.

Looking down at Rapunzel's open hands, he slowly reached down and took the chain, watching it twinkle in the remaining sunlight as it turned.

The reason the vendor had tried to stop them – Rapunzel had no idea about money. She obviously had no idea she was supposed to _pay _for the item. And before she could even be introduced to the matter of currency, he'd snatched her away in what he now reflected upon as a jealous rage. He was an honest man, and the brave Flynn Rider, looking to protect fair maiden Rapunzel from thelewd, vulgar advances of the nearest pervert, had decked him in the face and swore up and down that he would murder him at so much as a thought before he could even explain himself.

It wasn't that Eugene thought himself an idiot while staring in awe at the necklace that the girl had quite literally _stolen _for him, it was just that…well actually, yes it was. It was that. That exactly, in fact.

"You don't like it." She mumbled, a crestfallen sort of tone echoing throughout her voice. His head snapped upward, mouth struggling to find words as he held up the golden chain.

"Blondie, I…" he started, then stopped, watching her eyes shift from him to the floor of the boat.

He quickly put his hand over her folded ones, forcing her to look up at him.

"Rapunzel, it's wonderful. Thank you – but you really didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to…" she smiled sheepishly. "I wanted you to have something that well…reminded you of me."

Well, that was certainly unexpected. But, true to Flynn Rider form, Eugene took it in stride.

"I've already got a handful of lumps on the back of my head that'll keep me from forgettin' you any time soon." He joked, rubbing the back of his hand with his free hand. She giggled softly, shielding her face in her hair before lifting it like a veil to peer at him from the corner of her eye and smile genuinely in his direction.

Grinning like an idiot was okay this time. At least he wasn't alone in doing it.

A few long moments of silence passed before he realized he was staring again and that if he humored himself any longer, she'd miss her chance.

"Ah, we'd better hurry if we wanna make it." He exclaimed, grabbing his oar and beginning to paddle toward the middle of the lake.

"What?" Rapunzel questioned. She asked, looking up at the progressively darkening sky while leaning her back against the front of the boat.

"Let's just say that like you, I'm interested in giving you something to remember me by." He smiled in her direction, looking past her at the dimly lit city that was readying itself for the releasing of the lanterns.

"Eugene…" she smiled in return as he stopped rowing, letting the boat drift into the middle of the lake. "Where are we going?"

Eugene Fitzherbert, once a proud bandit known for stealing anything he wanted and leaving without a trace, was now sitting in the middle of a lake with a captivating girl who had been confined to a tower her entire life and a small spunky lizard, about to watch a ceremony involving lighting lanterns.

And he'd never felt more alive, more _real _than in that moment.

"Well," he began with a hidden grin, "On the best day of your life, I'm thinking you should have a decent seat."

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**Nexus: So there you have it! How did you enjoy it? :3 I hope you did. If you liked it, there's this little button down there that says "Review this Chapter". You should click it and tell me what you think! :D I'd really appreciate it. Anyway, thanks again! Nexus out.  
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